Small room ideas

Home offices SURE to inspire creativity

Home workspaces and home office design ideas SURE to inspire creativity

From desks and seating to wallpaper and paint, there are a number of elements to consider when creating a workspace. There is no doubt that our state of mind is heavily influenced by our surroundings. The décor of one's study is thus of utmost importance - a carefully designed space could even improve work productivity. Whether it's merely a table in the corner of your living area, a small dedicated space or a sizable room of its own, these design ideas may inspire a reworking of your office space...

If you don't have room for a dedicated study, take note. Having commissioned an award-winning newbuild in Suffolk, the owners entrusted its decoration to interior designer Virginia White. The gallery leading to the spare bedrooms has been turned into a self-contained study, where Virgina chose a corner desk attatched the mezzanine wall to minimise the amount of floor space used.

A small workspace with space-saving pocket doors is concealed in a kitchen cupboard in this Victorian terrace house in west London by Clare Stevenson and Claire Sa, from architectural practice De Rosee Sa.

Glass and steel folding doors separate the drawing room from the study. Bunny Turner says she chose the bold David Hicks print to line the walls so that despite it being a diminutive space, you wouldn't pass by without noticing it.

Taken from the November 2012 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Lisa Freedman. Locations editor: Hatta Byng.

If you stripped back everything in this office you'd be left with a practical large table from Ikea acting as a desk. Add some clever storage solutions (we particularly love the knitting basket), a few key pieces with some personality - a patterned rug, faux taxidermy giraffe's head and birdcage light, and like blogger Sara Charlesworth of Chalk White Arrow you have a home office that's entirely full of charm.

Interior designer Douglas Mackie has a passion for detail, including unusual finishes. The walls, for instance, aren't covered in paint but exquisite, hand-glazed wallpaper which resembles flattened-out tobacco leaves. Created by SJW studios in Seattle, it is made using a complex process of folding and hand-glazing.

Taken from the February 2014 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Leonie Highton.

In a small study area in one corner of Caroline O'Donnell's living room in her London flat, designer Harriet Anstruther has partnered a 'Bertoia Side Chair' from Skandium with an antique desk. This creates the desired modern effect while retaining a treasured piece.

'My clients had asked me to include an office space within the apartment,' says Italian architect Daniele Petteno of his contemporary working of a compact London flat. In the main bedroom, he designed a built-in desk to the right of the access steps, made in European oak and treated with the same wax by Turgon used on the wooden flooring. The continuity of the materials makes the room feel larger.

Formerly the home of Howard Hodgkin, this west London Victorian town house has a rather bohemian history. Its owners Linda and David Heathcot-Amory wanted to transform it into a carefully maintained family home with all the comforts.

In the office space, a dark Victorian desk stands out against light walls, while a painting of a sailing boat by Spanish artist Ramiro Fernandez Saus hangs above it. The double handed vessels on the desk are from Ardgowan Antiques. The desk stands on a modern rug designed by Linda - inspired by Paul Klee and Navajo tribal rugs - and made by Robert Stephenson.

At one end of the light-filled study in Kim Wilkie's London flat, a glass-topped 'Dublin' desk from Habitat and a Seventies Perspex and steel chair provide a small work space. Metal beer mugs are used as simple and stylish stationery holders.

In Jo Vestey's farmhouse, a plain desk and height adjustable wooden chair make up a child's workspace. Why not inspire your budding artist by granting them their own little office? A capacious print cabinet is the perfect place to store children's drawings, while an informal gallery wall allows for a revolving display of their latest creations. A 'grown up' space may also make homework seem more appealing.

The Notting Hill home of restaurant owner Keith McNally is full of clever design ideas. For organisation, we're cribbing this idea of using a two-tiered table as a desk and stowing low, flat storage boxes underneath.

In one of the bedrooms of Carskiey Estate, a slim and elegant navigator's desk stands between two windows framed by long curtains in Fermoie's green 'N-098' wicker linen. This area makes for a thoroughly pleasant, relaxed workspace with pretty views.

A 'Copper Round' light by Tom Dixon hangs in the study of taxidermist Ferry van Tongeren's house, a light-filled room with stained glass windows. The vintage feel of the desk and rugs is balanced out by the contemporary light.

Don't have a room with a view? Have your workspace overlook a beautiful bookshelf instead. An old, country-style desk stands at one end of this sitting area. 'In our previous houses, my study was always tucked away in a room that no one else wanted to use, which was ridiculous as I am often alone in the house. I wanted to be in the middle of things. I love sitting in my study now,' says Lucy Turvill, owner of this award-winning newbuild in Suffolk. The house was decorated by her interior designer sister, Virginia White.

There's something so charming about an abundance of books. Eschewing the trend for a perfectly harmonious, colour-coded display, the study in this family home designed by architect Chris Dyson makes the most of unusual shelving, from the vintage Danish desk from The Conran Shop to the stackable shelf on the right.

Taken from the February 2011 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Karina Garrick.

In this west London Victorian terrace, modernised and reconfigured by interior designer Sarah Stewart-Smith, there is a small study with a pitched roof and grid-style window. It is light and airy, the desk is from B&B Italia.

This office styled by Gabby Deeming is home to a modern beech, felt and steel desk - 'Homework' by Robin Grasby. The walls are a restful blue-grey 'Blue Charm' by Paint & Paper Library and a shelf supports a layered display of framed prints.

This office styled by Gabby Deeming makes use of a wide hallway. A red leather desk from Julian Chichester is paired with a laminated ash 'Grand Prix' chair by Arne Jacobsen. Framed eighteenth-century binding papers are hung above the desk - you could achieve a similar effect with some particularly pretty paper samples from a specialist such as Shepherds London.

This home office styled by Gabby Deeming is lined with 'Botanical Tulips', a hand-printed wallpaper by Twigs available from Simon Playle. The writing desk is from Chelsea Textiles' French country range.

There is a Julian Chichester desk and an Eames desk chair in the office, which is in the new part of this Notting Hill house designed by Amanda Hornby. The effect is a thoroughly contemporary feel, while warmth is introduced with comfortable armchairs and matching blinds.

This pared-down reading space in Mimi Thorisson's home in France is kept simple with neutral wall paint, stripped-back wooden floors and a charming desk. The framed picture above the desk completes the chic scheme.

The offset pitch of the roof allows for a large north-facing sloped skylight, which provides plenty of natural light in this shed. A neutral colour palette also brightens the room (see our guide for how to use white paint and white room ideas). The skylight is particularly lovely above a workspace.

This alluring writer's shed in Hackney, east London, was designed by Surman Weston architects for a client who loves children's literature and mythology. Partner Percy Weston explains that it 'was conceived as a haven in the city; a fairy-tale hut at the bottom of the garden, where the client could retreat and immerse himself in his work. The back-lit cedar façade, shingle cladding, log store and wood-burning stove were all intended to play a part in creating this world.' At 3.8 x 4.5 x 4.2 metres, it would not have needed planning permission if it had not been so close to the neighbour's boundaries.

The small but perfectly formed OfficePOD was initially designed for extra meeting spaces, and pods have been snapped up for hip media offices, including Google in London and BBC MediaCityUK in Salford. However, they make equally alluring outdoor rooms.

They come in a range of sizes from £10,000. The smaller version - the 1.94 metres-square model shown here - has room for seating, drawers and a wrap-around work surface. It would not require planning permission in most circumstances.

In the room of Lizzie and Ion's son Leopold, the blind is in Jane Churchill's 'Deverell Stripe'. The model of a Cadogan Square house was made by Leopold, which adds a personal touch. It also stands out due to the plain design of the desk and chair. See more of this London terraced town house conversion.

Salvaged from a bramble patch, this Forties British Rail freight carriage has been transformed into a garden room and quirky studio by Somerset-based designer-makers Tom Fraser and Lisa Butler. It is one of six available through their company Mungo & Betsy.

The exterior cladding and joinery is in oak, while the interior is distinctively lined with spalted beech and polished-lime plaster. This workspace manages to be both rustic and elegant.

In this minimal Scandinavian-style study, the ash and resin writing desk with lamp and vase by Roel Huisman is from Mint. The oak chair, 'Nerd', by David Geckeler for Muuto, 80 x 45 x 50cm, £299, is from Twentytwentyone.

A bookcase fits in the alcove shape of the back wall of this room, making the most of the space available in this west London terrace designed by Sarah Stewart Smith. Tasked with reconciling twenty-first century living with the Victorian proportions of the terrace house, the interior designer reconfigured the ground floor and linked the spaces with modern textures and pristine finishes.

The spotlight is on texture in this stylish, Japanese-inspired workspace. The black, modern desk and chair are softened by the 'warm', autumnal wallcovering from Zoffany. This room forms part of a modern Japanese scheme created by decoration director Gabby Deeming.

The designer Jane Gowers discovered her London house by chance, but its restoration and decoration have been the result of good judgement and a sympathetic approach. The study has a Serge Mouille light and a mid-century Danish desk by Ole Wanscher.

A mezzanine office with a workspace for two makes the most of high ceilings in the sitting room of artist Jonathan Delafield Cook and illustrator Laura Stoddart's converted disused chapel in Somerset. Paintings hanging on the wall, a sky light and the skeletons of two young beech saplings rising up to the ceiling from downstairs add character to the small, white space.